Moving!

In addition to switching DeviantArt accounts, I'll be moving blogs, too! here's my new location:

Convention~!

This weekend, I got to go to the JAFAX convention over in Allendale, MI, on the campus of the Grand Valley State University. It was quite a drive, but worth the fun! (Though it didn't feel worth it when we had to get up at 6:00 in the morning to get there by 9:30...) Anyone who was anyone there was wearing a cosplay costume, most of them homemade, some of them storebought. Here's a selection of my favourites as photographed by my goodself :) I apologize for the poor quality of some of the photos - crappy lighting + crappy camera = eggsucking photos >:(

Austria from Hetalia, looking classy as ever!

  

Probably the best non-professional Zelda and Link cosplayers I've ever seen...and I've seen a LOT. 

It's Team Rocket! Hey, that's my Pikachu! Give it back! 

THIS LIFE-SIZED ZOROARK IS A COSTUME. THERE IS A PERSON IN THERE. ISN'T IT MINDBLOWING?! :O

Zoroark and her (yes, the creator and model is a girl) trainer, May :)

Zoroark's groupies (family, I'm guessing), Hilbert, Hilda, and May.

A Kingdom Hearts group! 

Zomigosh! I''ve spotted Lugia in the Costume Contest! 

Flygon and Giratina  

Flygon and Giratina again :)

A Pokemon battle vs. Flygon and Giratina! Gee, who do you suppose is winning? 9_9

After winning the battle, Giratina dragged Flygon off the stage. :)

More of Zoroark and Hilbert in the Costume Contest :) (That's Zorua whom Hilbert is holding out, not a Pokesnack) 

  

Rocking hard...?

Another pose :) Each entry got two to four poses before leaving the stage.

Of course they won their division :) They were the Journeyman division, meaning they've shown somewhere between 7 to 15 costumes (or something like that). Less than that puts a contestant in the Novice division, and more puts them in the Master division. In addition to prizes in each division, each of the three judges give out a Judges' Choice award. 

This group's costumes were well done, but I think that it was lame that they got in the contest, which is obviously JAPANESE anime and games, on the technicality that Batman: Arkham Asylum was supposedly produced in Japan. Bull crap, I say. >:(

Plus, their Catwoman was a Fatwoman, and Batman was actually a Fatman...and a girl. Poison Ivy and the Riddler were SPOT-ON though. 

  

 

Hetalia Finland and Seychelles

America and (female) Italy of Hetalia

America-sama shows Italy-kun who's the boss HERO by giving her a noogie. Italy gave up quickly :) 

"Modern" Zelda and Ganondorf. LAME. >:(

As they left the stage, Ganondorf grabbed Zelda and ran. The judge said, "Is there a Link in the audience? We have a problem." 

A Super Mario Bros. group, featuring Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach!

They had a super-quick little skit-thingie where Peach hit a block, and Mario dragged a star across the floor and Luigi got it :)

Luigi: "GET A ROOM!" (he really said that!)

This entry reminded the judge of a puzzle :)

HOW IS LADY GAGA JAPANESE?! D:<

There were about eleven of these characters, "Grell"s, running around. A group of them somehow ended up in the same place (and Axel from Kingdom Hearts somehow got in this pic, too ^_^)

I LOVE THIS GUY'S HAT!!! (And personal hat attendee XD)

Walking ramen.

WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?!

 

Sealand and the Italy and America from the contest.

  

Hat guy and hat-antendee guy again ;)

These guys met each other for the first time walking in the doors, and they were joined at the hip for the rest of the day :)

Aren't they cute? ^_^

Shadow Link and Purple Link! I wanted to ask S.L. how she got her skin like that, but I didn't get a chance.

Russia! One of only about five people who knew who I was...

Another Russia. :) This one was better at posing.

Sly Cooper! I haven't heard from him in AGES!

Canada-kun and a different America-sama! There were about five or six Canadas, but this was the only one I got to photograph.  

I was looking through this artist's portfolio, and suddenly I exclaimed, "Omigosh, it's YOU!" This is Sara Joy, better known as Mavuriku!

France, as full of it as ever :)

A candid shot of France by the fountain. He didn't know I was there. :)

This guy was almost as creepy as the really bad Tails fursuit (wearing a sweater and jeans) walking around...I didn't get a snap of him, but he was CREEPY.

Revolutionary War England and America-sama! Many kudos for creativity!

A didgereedoo in the music centre (where the costume contest was being held)! :D

All costumes and creations are (c) to their creators, and all characters are (c) to their respective companies. All I own are the photos :)

Poignant 404

Just wanted to share with you a 404 message I got today while looking for Disney screenshot websites:

Hit the road, Jack (and don't come back): a review of "Gulliver's Travels"

My review of the new movie Gulliver’s Travels can easily be summed up in one sentence, which I uttered to my sisters upon leaving the theatre: watching it is akin to experiencing the taste of bile left in one’s mouth after vomiting. However, I refuse to leave it at that.

20^th Century Fox studios has quite literally dropped their pants and urinated on Jonathan Swift’s grave. They took his novel, prized alongside classics like White Fang, The Jungle Book, and Swiss Family Robinson, and destroyed its reputation. Not only did they throw the plot to the dogs – they injected it with mindless stupidity, offensively vulgar passes at humor, and tasteless character “makeovers”. While I do not dislike Jack Black himself (I LOVED his vocal work in Kung Fu Panda), and I am well aware that most of the film was written by someone else and he was just doing his job, but the film was obviously written knowing he would play the main role, and the character they created for him is disgusting (on the subject, he’s also not exactly high on my list of persons whom I’d mind seeing shirtless to begin with, and the cannonball bit literally made me queasy). They have taken the traditional English gentleman character Gulliver was and turned him into a selfish, lying, lazy, crass, brain-dead bum. Yes, he improves as the film goes on, but he never should have been “modernized” into the average-citizen type to begin with. If Disney had bought the film rights, Gulliver would likely have been a prominent professor researching a theory or something along those lines. Think Nicholas Cage in National Treasure or Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes. They would have stuck closer to the book, kept Gulliver’s personality, left out the relationship crap, and made the Lilliputians a lot smarter and more likeable. Keep the modern technology in contrast to the Lilliputians’ style of living, keep the Bermuda Triangle angle, and THAT would have been a film worth watching.

But what’s done is done. It was 20^th Century that made the film, not Disney. And although I didn’t want to and the only reason I did was because my “friend” stood me up, I went and saw it. My only consolation was that the amount of money I paid to see it was only a few cents more than the value of the slushie that was included with the ticket. 

I killed them and ate their livers...

I recently found out that one of the old Sonic game manuals (I don't know which one) supposedly claimed that Fang the Sniper's favorite food is roast beef. But the only animals in Mobius are anthros, right? So does that mean when Fang wants his supper he goes out, murders a cow and cannibalizes it? O_o
In one of the old Knuckles the Echidna comics, it is strongly implied that the "good guy" carnivores (Vector the Crocodile was the example) supplement with tofu. That works for the good guys, but I cannot see a ruthless, child-shooting villain like Fang walking into a health food store and buying tofu...or even holding up a heath food store and stealing tofu. So where do the carnivorous villains get their meat?

Do you remember the time we covered you in tar and stuck you to the backside of an angry water buffalo?

Good times.  Good times.

Things start to get hairy: a review of "Tangled" (may contain minor spoilers and/or nuts)

When it comes to Disney, I have EXTREMELY high expectations, especially when it comes to their classic line. Upon seeing the commercials for Tangled, I knew right off the bat that it would not meet these expectations. While it was better than I thought and I can’t honestly say I didn’t enjoy it, I felt that it was far from Disney’s best and was not worthy to be included in the classic list alongside films like Fantasia, Robin Hood, and Lilo and Stitch.

The first thing that irked me when I saw the commercial was the fact that it’s CGI. To me, Classic Disney is traditionally animated, or Pixar (though I wouldn’t include Cars, but that’s another rant…). The second thing was the modern music in the trailer. I heard an electric guitar and cringed. I went to the theatre with an open mind however, and was relieved that the music was not modern. However the singing was obnoxiously frequent in the first half of the movie, and I thought it was very out of character for Eugene (what kind of name is that for the “Prince”, anyway?!) to sing half of a romantic duet. Blech. But the thing I found MOST annoying was Maximus. I would have let slide the “Sit….Drop it!”, and even the tail wagging I could reluctantly forgive, but the sniffing drove me up a wall!!! Good land! If Disney wanted a really big dog, they should have cast a Great Dane, or better yet, a Wolfhound! Finally, on a smaller, extremely picky note, I did not like how Rapunzel’s hair looked after it was cut. It was FAR too modern and failed epically.

To be fair, Pasquel (or however you spell it) was absolutely adorable and made up for a LOT of the film’s shortcomings. Eugene was refreshingly realistic (although Disney needs to quit telling little girls that a handsome, dashing, adoring, perfect guy is going to sweep them off their feet, because it frankly does not happen in real life), and I admit to laughing out loud when he and Max were hitting each other on the bridge. Rapunzel was thankfully NOT Mary-Sue or standard in any way – she was neither the obnoxious damsel-in-distress, nor the even more obnoxious absurdly “strong” female. I did like the style, particularly the GORGOUS coloring. Very warm and deep – I REALLY wanted to be in that forest, too! I won’t be paying to see it again, nor will I be buying the DVD, but I may borrow it if the library gets it. To sum it up, not a winner, but worth seeing at least once. As for those poor siblings whose little sister becomes obsessed and makes them comb her hair for hours while she sings the flower spell over and over again…you have my sincerest pity.